Over the last three months, I’ve been working in this digital 2D medium to create little tests (… close to twenty so far) to combat my weaknesses in animation. Primarily stiffness and lack of strong graphic posing. With that in mind, I’ve been doing a lot of cartoonie tests trying to make every frame as different to the others as is humanly possible (while still making sense and being relevant to what’s taking place, the attitude etc). This was a stretch for my brain, and at first I found it excruciatingly hard. There were many re-takes… there was many of the same note… there were even tears (possibly from both sides, certainly from me!). But with the amazing relentless support of my Mentor, who wouldn’t give me an inch!… and made me do everything again, and again – and again… until I got it!! I feel like my way of thinking through a shot and planning has expanded. It’s still not easy, but I guess, I feel like I have more tools now to help me find the answers.

Here’s the latest three rough tests (I can’t draw beautifully regardless, but drawing on a Wacom didn’t help. So please forgive the crudeness of my drawings) – I will, over the next couple of weeks start blocking out the Take Animation and the Heavy Lift in CG, to go on my reel. Wish me luck!

Note, even in these tests, he still had some small revisions, that I have to tend to in CG – notes never end…

I have been working closely with my Mentor since April… he has a strong traditional background he’s been pushing me to draw LOTS… maybe one day I’ll post the atrocities I first handed up but for now, here’s some of my more recent assignments (1/2 minute sketches) – not that these are by any means good drawings. I’ll post a few rough animations during the week too, that we’ve been working on… just keeping the ol blog alive.

Its been a while, since I shared any animation, so here’s a quick animation test I done with one of Animation Mentor’s awesome new Tribe rigs.
The animation was done ‘straight ahead’ with, no polish, using no reference… not even a single thumbnail. I’d been working on polishing my reel for a while now and using reference a lot in my iAnimate workshops, I just want to do something more on the wacky side and purely for fun.

A small, and wonderful team, got a really great surprise over the weekend… Tilly and Friends, my first venture as Animation Supervisor, won an IFTA from the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Animation! I feel so fortunate, to have been part of such an amazing team at JAM Media and to have worked on such adorable characters. One of the biggest and most fun learning experiences of my career so far! Here’s my favourite shot, that I got to animate on the show.

A few weeks back I had the immense luck to have won a Free Critique from the wonderfully talented and exceptionally kind Kevan Shorey at Dreamworks animation. He regularly opens some free time to critiquing peoples’ work. This time, I was lucky enough to snatch the spot and I highly recommend you follow him on twitter (@kevanshorey), for inspiration and to possibly snap up the next spot!

Here’s the video critique he done for me:

(If you see a message saying it’s private – Don’t worry. Click on ‘Watch on Vimeo’, and you’re all set! :)

I discovered Van Arts when I first arrived in Vancouver last Sept to attend a master class organized by them. When I noticed the incredible talent teaching there, I quickly found my way back, visiting every few weeks. Always greeted with an open door and friendly faces. It was a place to find inspiration. They somehow saw fit to let me teach, last April – an experience that forced me to grow both as an animator and a person. I am privileged that Van Arts has spanned my entire time here in Vancouver. Today, is my last day teaching with these wonderful men and I am so grateful to them for the amazing experience. — at VanArts – Vancouver Institute of Media Arts.

UPDATE: And a couple of photos of my students from the ‘Summer Intensive Animation Course 2013’,

In an attempt to make animation not the only thing in my life I went off traveling… and somehow wound up on one of my greatest animation adventures I’ve had to date! Found lots of fantastic animation references, ideas… met with lots of animation masters, in short, I had a blast! But I barely animated the last couple of months… not for the want of trying but the sheer lack of access to electricity or a desk etc. My time away from work was a serious charge for my batteries and I’m back stuck into a new shot for my reel, news of that in a later post.Here is what a battery charge looks like… in no particular order: